Posts Tagged ‘Church’

There is a fairly new study that reveals some profound insights on what it takes to keep today’s youth in church after they leave home and become adults. What did the study find? Did the study find that hip and cool music in the church were the reason for keeping youth in the church as they entered adulthood? Did the study find that relevant and flashy sermons brought forth greater church attendance among young adults after leaving home? How about those who attended youth group; was youth group the reason for youth staying in the church after high school?

According to some, what this new study discovered could be classified as the ‘holy grail’ for keeping teenagers in the church. What is this profound ‘holy grail’ discovery? Believe it or not, it isn’t marketing or worship service renovations or stellar youth programs but rather it is ‘Parents.’ Yes, the study found that if parents visited with their children about the Christian faith in their homes – showing its importance – and if parents/families were active in their local church, then 82% of their children would continue in the church as adults. According to one researcher, the involvement of parents with their youth in regard to the Christian Faith is “nearly deterministic” of what will happen to youth when they come into adulthood.

The holy grail for helping youth remain religiously active as young adults has been at home all along: Parents.

Mothers and fathers who practice what they preach and preach what they practice are far and away the major influence related to adolescents keeping the faith into their 20s, according to new findings from a landmark study of youth and religion.

Just 1 percent of teens ages 15 to 17 raised by parents who attached little importance to religion were highly religious in their mid- to late 20s.

In contrast, 82 percent of children raised by parents who talked about faith at home, attached great importance to their beliefs and were active in their congregations were themselves religiously active as young adults, according to data from the latest wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion.

The connection is “nearly deterministic,” said University of Notre Dame Sociologist Christian Smith, lead researcher for the study.

Other factors such as youth ministry or clergy or service projects or religious schools pale in comparison.

“No other conceivable causal influence … comes remotely close to matching the influence of parents on the religious faith and practices of youth,” Smith said in a recent talk sharing the findings at Yale Divinity School. “Parents just dominate.”

For their part, parents need to realize a hands-off approach to religion has consequences.

“Parents, for better or worse, are actually the most influential pastors … of their children,” Christian Smith said. “Parents set a kind of glass ceiling of religious commitment, above which their children rarely rise.”

It is clear from the data above that we cannot diminish the importance of parents’ influence upon their children in regard to the Christian Faith. Thus, it is obvious that what is needed in today’s church is not more separate programs for our youth; programs where youth are segregated from their parents in the church. But rather, what is needed in today’s church is robust catechesis of youth ‘and’ continual catechesis/equipping of parents, so that parents may care for their children’s physical, emotional, ‘and’ spiritual well-being. This happens as the ‘whole’ family is actively involved in the life of the church, continually receiving the Lord’s Word and Sacraments, week after week after week.

Where does the Liturgical Service come from? I now understand much or all is found in the Bible, but how did it get its current form? Some tell me it is based on the heavenly worship shown in revelations; did the early church and disciples help create the form? Are their any modern (Lutheran) worship aspects unbiblical? Thanks!

Thanks, T.

T,

You have a great base already understanding the content of the Divine Service as we have it today. Your question about its origins is an excellent secondary question to ask. I will attempt to answer it as best as I can. However, for a more in-depth treatment I would direct you to Rev. Dr. Arthur Just’s “Liturgy: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” videos available at www.lutheranvisuals.com/Store/liturgy.html.

First, the liturgy of the church is not a lifeless artifact that came down from heaven on gold tablets never to change until the end of time. The liturgy of Christ’s church is a living organism and has grown and been pruned back throughout the centuries.

Looking at Holy Scripture, we are not given an explicit set of words, phrases or music to use. We only have little glimpses into what took place. To begin look at Genesis 3. An odd place to start being this is the chapter in which the fall into sin is recorded, but we also see in the details a wonderful picture of how Adam & Eve worshiped. Have you ever considered why it was that our first parents were anywhere near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? The reason, I suggest, serves as a wonderful example of our worship today. Adam & Eve were at the very good Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to worship. That is to say, they were gathered at that tree to receive God’s Word of Life to them. Attached to that tree was God’s promise, “Do not eat lest you surely die.” In fear, love and trust of God, they believed completely that true and pure Word and by it they continued to receive life from God.

False worship then is any worship that perverts, even in the slightest, the Word given. “Did God really say?” Or, “Is what was given enough?” False worship redirects attention from the True God to an aberration of God, which usually is the worship of creation, namely the self.

This first example begins the perennial struggle found in the development of the liturgy of the church – who is it that we worship and why?

A distinctly clear example of a prescribed liturgy would have been that of Passover. The Gospel of God’s faithfulness in delivering His people from Egypt was given to the head of house to teach his children what happened that first Passover.

From the garden and Egypt we continue to see the worship of God develop in the sacrificial system of Israel as described in Leviticus. Rev. Dr. John Kleinig’s Concordia Commentary on Leviticus from CPH is excellent in unpacking the Tabernacle worship of Israel.

Looking in the Gospels, we see through little windows an establish ceremony which included particular prayers and Scripture (O.T.). This is seen in Zechariah entering the Holy Place to offer up prayers for the promised Messiah to come and to burn incense for the forgiveness of his and the peoples sins. [Irony: When Gabriel appeared and Zechariah questioned him on the coming Messiah and His forerunner, he was struck mute because he didn’t believe the prescribed prayers he was just praying that hour.]

There was a set lectionary (reading for a particular Sabbath). Jesus on one Sabbath entered the temple picked up the scroll of Isaiah read it and sat down to preach. The scroll was open to a particular place, because the scroll wasn’t like modern-day books. Great care was taken in rolling the scroll made of parchment wasn’t damaged. Also, it is worth noting that nothing is a matter of coincidence for Jesus. He knew what was going to be read that day. He knew it would be about Him, which could be said of every reading on any given Sabbath.

The use the Psalms was clearly established in Jesus’ day, too, as He and His disciples sang prescribed psalms follow the Passover the night of His betrayal, showing that the worship of Israel in the home was also ordered.

The liturgy of the Church did not develop in a vacuum, but is a daughter of the O.T. worship of Israel, which pointed to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. In the N.T. the focus was still Jesus, but from a different vantage point. The proclamation of the Divine Service was now one of completed salvation through Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world. This gracious act and its continued deliver to God’s people throughout time and space is the center of the liturgy. This key point serves as the litmus test for any additions or subtraction. If it doesn’t direct our attention to Jesus and then deliver to us what He objectively did on the cross regardless of what I feel, think or do, then it is not to be added. It for those same reason subtracting something would direct our attention away from Jesus, then it is to be retained.

This all said, things can be added to the liturgy of the church, but it best be done in cooperation with the whole body of believers. This helps to prevent one congregation, one group, or one pastor from falling into a false confession with uncritical additions or subtractions to the church’s usual order of services as handed down from generation to generation.

What we have today in the Church’s liturgies is a pillar of the Gospel of Jesus around which baptized believers throughout time and space gather to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. The liturgy is that point at which we can know, that where the Word of God is taught and preached and the Sacraments administered as Jesus gave them, we are not alone, but surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses no one can number.

I haven’t been to church in a long time. I was a baptist. I want to go back to church. As I feel that I am missing something in my life. How would I know if a lutheran church is a right fit for me? I bought the Lutheranism 101 & book of concord. I have also read the small catechism. ~J

Hi J.,
The best way to know if a Lutheran congregation is right for you (and, for obvious reasons, everyone here thinks it is!) would be to compare what you read, especially in the Small Catechism, with what you read in the Scriptures. If you end up saying, yes, that’s what the Scriptures teach, then it might be best to seek out a local LCMS pastor and ask him any further questions you might have. He can talk to you about your specific questions and experience, and help point you further in the right direction.

Can I just seek Christ on my own through God’s Word? Or is being an active member of a church a necessity/demand for a believer?

As Lutherans we confess in the Large Catechism concerning the Third Article of the Creed:

Learn, then, to understand this article most clearly. You may be asked, “What do you mean by the words I believe in the Holy Spirit?”
You can then answer, “I believe that the Holy Spirit makes me holy, as His name implies.”

“But how does He accomplish this, or what are His method and means to this end?”
Answer, “By the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. For in the first place, the Spirit has His own congregation in the world, which is the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word [Galatians 4:26]. Through the Word He reveals and preaches, He illumines and enkindles hearts, so that they understand, accept, cling to, and persevere in the Word [1 Corinthians 2:12].

“Where the Spirit does not cause the Word to be preached and roused in the heart so that it is understood, it is lost [Matthew 13:19]. This was the case under the papacy, where faith was entirely put under the bench. No one recognized Christ as his Lord or the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier. That is, no one believed that Christ is our Lord in the sense that He has gained this treasure for us, without our works and merit [Romans 4:6], and made us acceptable to the Father. What, then, was lacking? This: the Holy Spirit was not there to reveal it and cause it to be preached. But men and evil spirits were there. They taught us to obtain grace and be saved by our works. There is no Christian Church in that. For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one can come to Christ the Lord.

Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal: we shall daily receive in the Church nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. So even though we have sins, the ‹grace of the› Holy Spirit does not allow them to harm us. For we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but ‹continuous, uninterrupted› forgiveness of sin. This is because God forgives us and because we forgive, bear with, and help one another [Galatians 6:1–2].
But outside of this Christian Church, where the Gospel is not found, there is no forgiveness, as also there can be no holiness. Therefore, all who seek and wish to earn holiness not through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their works, have expelled and severed themselves ‹from this Church› [Galatians 5:4].”

So then. The simple answer is “no.” But the reason for this is that you need to hear that this Gospel is “for you.” You need to hear that your sins are forgiven. You need the body and blood of Christ. And furthermore, in Baptism you have been made a member of the Body of Christ. “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you”” (1 Corinthians 12:21, ESV). So as a member of the Body of Christ, listen to His Word. Hear it, especially as it admonishes you to come together with the rest of the body of Christ (Hebrews 10:25).

What do you think of a lay pastor? In some rural areas that might be the best option when there is not a large enough congregation to support a full time pastor. Definitely has drawbacks as it would entail less education for the lay pastor. However, there are plenty of lay leaders that have more discernment and are better equipped than liberal pastors.

N,

A pastor, by definition is not a layperson. In addition it “is not an optional office, but one whose establishment has been commanded to the Church and to which the Church is properly bound till the end of time” (CFW Walther, Church and the Office of the Ministry, Thesis III). Laypersons leading a congregation is simply unbiblical. If a lay person had such discernment, he would know the congregation needs to call a pastor.

So what are these small congregations to do? Call a pastor! In some circumstances, this may mean the pastor serves two or more congregations. There are no shortage of faithful pastors who are currently without a call. In addition, most congregations can support a pastor and his family, the reality is that often times the giving simply is not there. Think about it, if a congregation had 10 families giving 10% of their income (which is a good starting point for Christian giving), that would cover the salary of the pastor, a couple more and you have benefits covered, and a few more and you have the maintenance and utilities of the church building covered. At last resort (and this should be the exception, not the rule, see 1 Cor. 9:14) a pastor may have to supplement his income with a secondary vocation. This would take him away from being able to perform pastoral duties all the time, but it is far better than having a flock with no shepherd.